Duke Energy Technical Career Day Set for February 27

CONTACT: BUTCH MERRITT, EXT. 2381

FOR RELEASE ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 27, PLEASE
(By Lisa Garrett)

PENDLETON --- Area high school students are feverishly finishing never-before-seen products they will showcase in a competition during Duke Energy Technical Career Day set for February 27 on the Tri-County Technical College campus.

For several months, high school juniors and seniors representing career centers (Hamilton, B. J. Skelton and the Hanna Westside Extension campus) and the two comprehensive high schools (Crescent and Pendleton) have been working to meet the challenge of creating a new product that is generated by electrical power. These 15-member teams of high school students (who have an interest in technology-based careers) will arrive at Tri-County in the morning, tour the facilities, and hear a presentation by Duke Energy representatives in Oconee Hall. After lunch, each team will present its energy-related product to Duke Energy judges. A $500 prize will go to the first-place winners.

Last November representatives from Duke Energy were on the campus to present College officials with a $4,000 grant check to fund the Career Day. The College and Duke Energy are engaged in a partnership whereby they can share this upcoming Career Day and build relationships with these students and the College. This event is aimed at raising the awareness of technical careers that are available at Duke.

Tom Hewitt, School-to-Work coordinator for Anderson School District 4, says Pendleton's 13-member team formed a real corporation complete with departments for sales and marketing, business, graphic arts, research and development, purchasing and accounting, manufacturing, quality, and transportation and packaging. Each group is responsible for different areas. "For instance, sales and marketing were charged with conceiving a corporation name," said Hewitt. The group came up with Technodogs, Inc., a company that produces pneumatic can crushers which students hope to one day place in the Pendleton High School cafeteria, he said. Hewitt, who came to District 4 after years of working in business and industry, sees this project as a true lesson in teambuilding. "It gives students an opportunity to see how a real corporation works," he said.

"Our students are very aware that a two-year degree from Tri-County will prepare them for today's workforce. By the time they graduate, 60 percent of jobs they will apply for haven't been created yet, and 80 percent of those jobs are in the service (technical) industry," Hewitt added.

Fud Cater, a technical specialist at Duke for two decades and a 1971 graduate of the Industrial Electronics Technology department, is looking forward to talking to high school students about what technical career opportunities are available at Duke Energy.

Cater says that within the next five years, there is a tremendous percentage of persons working in technical positions at Duke who will reach retirement age.

"Technical colleges provide graduates with the hands-on skills we will need over the next five years," said Cater. "Duke's future hiring is leaning toward the technical end. We hire few management people," he added.

Specifically, Cater says two-year technical degrees from Tri-County can lead to careers as maintenance technicians and instrument and electrical technicians. A person with a science background could work as a chemical technician, adding that many of the Tri-County majors give students the qualifications to hire in as operations learners.

Prior to the afternoon contest, students will hear presentations about specific jobs at Duke, Cater said. "We will offer students the chance to ask specific questions about the opportunities at Duke. There are many job opportunities at Duke Energy and not just at the Oconee Nuclear Station. There are jobs all around the world."

"This event is giving all of us (Duke, the high schools and Tri-County) the opportunity to strengthen our partnership," said Butch Merritt, director of Job Placement and Cooperative Education at Tri-County. "It's a triple play. Everybody wins. The high schools are winning by gaining a better awareness of the technical opportunities at Duke. The College wins by serving students by building on their high school education through mechanical training, and Duke wins because they can draw upon our students to fill future jobs in technical areas."
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